Top 25 free apps for Windows 10

Unless you’re attached to a corporate network with a well-managed Update Server, Windows 10 gives you all of Microsoft’s patches according to Microsoft’s schedule, aka forced updating. Yes, you can usually keep the reboot limited to a time when you aren’t working, but the patches come whether or not you want them. Worse, if you uninstall a patch, every time you reboot or log on again, the same patch comes barreling at your machine. It’s like Sisyphus 10.0.

As long as Microsoft’s patches all work, all of the time, that’s great. But the minute there’s a problem — a driver that doesn’t work right, a cumulative update that refuses to install, a conflict between the patch and one of your programs — forced updating can cause all sorts of problems.

Fortunately, Microsoft has created a program that allows you to block and hide specific updates. Wushowhide, known by its cryptic Knowledge Base number KB 307930, scans to see which updates are pending and lets you hide individual updates.

To use it, head over to KB 307930, download and stick wushowhide.diagcab on your machine. Run wushowhide.diacab, click Hide updates, and you see a list like the one shown in the screenshot above. Check the update(s) you want to forgo, click Next, then Next again. The chosen patch won’t be installed, until Microsoft releases a new version of the patch.

Some people slow down updates using a setting called metered connection, then wait to run Wushowhide when they hear of updates — either an all-clear, or a botched patch warning. That gives you somewhat granular control over which patches get applied and when.